1. Strategic Management:
Concepts and Cases 9e
Part II: Strategic Actions:
Strategy Formulation
Chapter 8: International Strategy
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copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in
whole or in part.

2. Chapter 8: International Strategy (IS)
• Overview: Eight content areas
– Traditional vs. emerging motives
– Four major benefits of International Strategies (IS)
– Four factors as basis for international business strategy
– Three international corporate-level strategies
– Environmental trends affecting IS
– Five alternative modes for entering international
markets
– Effects of international diversification on returns &
innovation
– Two major risks of international diversification
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

3. Introduction
• Many firms choose direct investment in assets
over indirect investment
– Provides better protection for assets
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4. Identifying International Opportunities:
Incentives to Use an International Strategy (IS)
• International Strategy (IS): firm sells its goods
or services outside the domestic market
• Reasons for an IS
– International markets yield potential new opportunities
– International diversification: innovation occurs in home-
country market, especially in an advanced economy, and
demand for product develops in other countries, so
exports provided by domestic organization
– Multinational strategy: Secure need resources
– Other motives exist (i.e., pressure for global integration,
borderless demand for globally branded products)
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

5. Identifying International Opportunities:
Incentives to Use an International Strategy (IS)
(Cont’d)
• Four primary reasons
– 1. Increased market size
• Domestic market may lack the size to support efficient scale
manufacturing facilities
– 2. Return on Investment (ROI)
• Large investment projects may require global markets to
justify the capital outlays
• Weak patent protection in some countries implies that firms
should expand overseas rapidly in order to preempt imitators
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

6. Identifying International Opportunities:
Incentives to Use an International Strategy (IS)
(Cont’d)
• Four primary reasons (Cont’d)
– 3. Economies of Scale and Learning
• Expanding size or scope of markets helps to achieve
economies of scale in manufacturing as well as marketing,
R&D, or distribution
• Costs are spread over a larger sales base
• Profit per unit is increased
– 4. Location advantages: Low cost markets may…
• … aid in developing competitive advantage
• … achieve better access to critical resources:
– i.e., raw materials, lower cost labor, key customers, energy
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

7. International Strategies (IS)
• Firms choose one or both of two basic type of IS:
Business level and/or corporate level
• International business-level strategy
– Follows generic strategies of cost-leadership,
differentiation, focused or broad
• International corporate-level strategy
– Home country usually most important source of
competitive advantage
• Resources and capabilities frequently allow firm to pursue
markets in other countries
• The determinants of national advantage includes 4 factors
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

8. Determinants of National Advantage
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9. International Corporate-Level Strategies
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10. International Strategies (IS) (Cont’d)
• International corporate-level strategies (Cont’d)
• 1. Multidomestic
– Decentralized strategic & operating decisions by strategic
business-unit (SBU) in each country allows units to tailor
products to local markets
– Focuses on variations of competition within each country
– Customized products to meet local customers’ specific
needs and preferences
– Takes steps to isolate the firm from global competitive
forces
• Establish protected market positions
• Compete in industry segments most affected by differences
among local countries
– Deals with uncertainty from differences across markets
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

11. International Strategies (IS) (Cont’d)
• 2. Global
– Offers standardized products across country markets, with
the competitive strategy being dictated by the home office
– Emphasizes economies of scale
– Facilitated by improved global reporting standards (i.e.,
accounting and financial)
– Strategic & operating decisions centralized at home office
– Involves interdependent SBUs operating in each country
– Home office attempts to achieve integration across SBUs,
adding management complexity
– Produces lower risk
– Is less responsive to local market opportunities
– Offers less effective learning processes (pressure to
conform and standardize)
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

12. International Strategies (IS) (Cont’d)
• 3. Transnational
– Seeks to achieve both global efficiency and local
responsiveness – these are competing goals!
– Requires both global coordination and local flexibility with
this strategy/structure combination
• Flexible Coordination: Building a shared vision and individual
commitment through an integrated network
– Challenging, but becoming increasingly necessary to
compete in international markets
– Growing number of global competitors heightens need to
keep costs down while greater information flow and desire
for specialized products pressures firms to differentiate
and even customize products – nonetheless,
– Increasingly used as a strategy
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13. Environmental Trends
• Transnational strategy hard to implement
• Two new trends
• 1. Liability of foreignness
– Increased after terrorists’ attacks and Iraq War
– Global strategies not as prevalent today, still difficult to
implement even with Internet-based strategies
– Regional focus allows firms to marshal resources to
compete effectively in regional markets
• 2. Regionalization
– Focus to a particular region of the world
• Increases understanding of market
• Achieve some economies
• Trade agreements (i.e., EU, OAS, NAFTA) promote flow of
trade across country boundaries with their respective regions
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14. International Entry Modes
• Follows the selection of an IS
• Five main entry modes
• 1. Exporting
• 2. Licensing
• 3. Strategic Alliances
• 4. Acquisitions
• 5. New Wholly-Owned Subsidiary
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

15. International Entry Modes (Cont’d)
• 1. Exporting
– Involves low expense to establish operations in host
country
– Often involves contractual agreements
– Involves high transportation costs
– May have some tariffs imposed
– Offers low control over marketing and distribution
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

16. International Entry Modes (Cont’d)
• 2. Licensing
– Involves low cost to expand internationally
– Allows licensee to absorb risks
– Has low control over manufacturing and marketing
– Offers lower potential returns (shared with licensee)
– Involves risk of licensee imitating technology and
product for own use
– May have inflexible ownership arrangement
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

17. International Entry Modes (Cont’d)
• 3. Strategic Alliances
– Involve shared risks and resources
– Facilitate development of core competencies
– Involve fewer resources and costs required for entry
– May involve possible incompatibility, conflict, or lack of
trust with partner
– Are difficult to manage
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

18. International Entry Modes (Cont’d)
• 4. Acquisitions
– Allow for quick access to market
– Involve possible integration difficulties
– Are costly
– Have complex negotiations and transaction
requirements
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

19. International Entry Modes (Cont’d)
• 5. New Wholly-Owned Subsidiary
– Is costly
– Involves complex processes
– Allows for maximum control
– Has the highest potential returns
– Carries high risk
– Greenfield venture: Establish entirely new subsidiary
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20. International Entry Modes (Cont’d)
• Dynamics of Mode of Entry: Use the best suited to
the situation at hand; affected by several factors
– Export, licensing and strategic alliance: good tactics for
early market development
– Strategic alliance: used in more uncertain situations
– Wholly-owned subsidiary may be preferred if
• IP rights in emerging economy not well protected
• Number of firms in industry is growing fast
• Need for global integration is high
– Acquisitions or greenfield ventures: secure a stronger
presence in international markets
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21. Strategic Competitive Outcomes
• International diversification: firm expands
sales of its goods or services across the borders of
global regions and countries into different
geographic locations or markets
• Implementation follows selection of international
strategy and mode of entry
• 1. International diversification and returns
• 2. International diversification and innovation
• 3. Complexity of managing multinational firms
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

22. Strategic Competitive Outcomes (Cont’d)
• 1. International diversification and returns
– As international diversification increases, firms’ returns initially
decrease, but then increase quickly as the firm learns to manage
international expansion
• 2. International diversification and innovation
– Exposure to new products and markets
– Opportunity to integrate new knowledge into operations
– Generation of resources to sustain innovation efforts
• 3. Complexity of managing multinational firms
– Geographic dispersion
– Costs of coordination
– Logistical costs
– Trade barriers
– Cultural diversity
– Host government
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23. Risk in the International Environment
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24. Risks in International Environment (Cont’d)
• 1. Political risks
– Government instability
– Conflict or war
– Government regulations
– Conflicting and diverse legal authorities
– Potential nationalization of private assets
– Government corruption
– Changes in government policies
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

25. Risks in International Environment (Cont’d)
• 2. Economic risks
– Differences and fluctuations in currency values
– Investment losses due to political risks
• Limits to international expansions: management
problems
– Geographic dispersion
– Trade barriers
– Logistical costs
– Cultural diversity
– Other differences by country
– Relationship between organization and host country
©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.